Photograph by Matt Bramford
When Christina Brodie’s luxury glove range popped up in the fashion inbox, I knew that I’d like to interview the woman behind these vibrant and unique items. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for, though – the list of activities Christina immerses herself in leaves me breathless.
I arranged to meet Christina for breakfast in Leon at Bankside – it’s pretty early as we both have our day jobs to get to. I order us some drinks and we take a seat, and it’s immediately obvious, as Christina launches into conversation, that we’re going to have a lot to talk about.
I’d like to set Christina and Amelia up on a date – not of the romantic nature, but I think they’d get along like a house on fire. They have a lot in common.
It’s inspirational to meet somebody with such a strong work ethic and a dedication to all they do, and lord knows how Christina finds time to enjoy herself, with so many things on the burner. The fact is, she doesn’t. ‘My social life goes out of the window,’ she tells me, ‘it’s pretty difficult to manage. Although I am pretty organised’ she continues.
Christina doesn’t do collections – she does mini-launches because she doesn’t want to contain herself within the constraints of the fashion cycle. Plus, she’s bursting with ideas. ‘When I design a collection,’ she announces, ‘I already have ideas for the next four or five.’
Illustration by Antonia Parker
Her gloves are vibrant and bold, taking the iconic driving glove and reworking them for 21st century fashion. Using graphic prints, inspired by graffiti and geometry, the gloves boast wings and flaps and are real statement pieces.
Why gloves? Well, I’ll let Christina explain. ‘I experimented with a range of accessories – belts, bags, and so on. I found that gloves haven’t really been explored, so I set my sights on breaking this. I have a fascination for small, delicate things, and I adore soft fabrics.’ Experimenting with the properties of leather is Christina’s forte, and her adoration for graphic and comic art shines through in this particular collection (sorry, mini-collection).
The graphic patterns come from a very familiar place. ‘They’re actually abstractions of my logo,’ she tells me. The collection (sorry, mini-collection – this is getting difficult!) is split into three areas – ‘Super’ ‘Crazy’ and ‘Bow’, which are pretty self explanatory. Elements of each pair of gloves are inspired by all sorts of things. ‘My ideas are spontaneous,’ Christina continues, ‘they’re never logical.’
Who or what inspires Christina? I suggest there’s a hint of Lady Gaga about the gloves. ‘I think she’s necessary,’ Christina states, diplomatically. ‘I think what she does has been around for a while, but it’s great that she’s brought the creativity of Gareth Pugh and others into the mainstream. And I love her bold use of colour – red, black – they’re great.’ Gaga’s exagarrated, bold shapes have been insiraptional to Christina, and it’s these geometric silhouettes that are evident in the, erm, collection (oh, sod it.)
Her favourite designer is Christian Lacroix. ‘I love his use of colour,’ Christina tells me. “I don’t think the British use colour naturally – I think it’s a Northern Europe thing, maybe because of the availability of light. We tend to stick with muted colours. The French and the Spanish use colour so much more effectively.’ She LOVES colour, especially rainbow colours. We chat about the demise of Lacroix’s label. ‘I’ve read that women don’t buy his clothes because of the colours, an to be commercially viable you should use beiges, baby pinks, baby blues,’ she says. I see a serious streak coming. ‘I’m damned if I’m going to mute my colours for commercial viability!’
Christina is glad she isn’t part of a debt-riddled, multi-million pound operation. ‘I read how much debt McQueen’s label was/is in, and I was astounded,’ she states. ‘I guess with all the hangers-on and marketing, you run up huge costs.’ This is where her relief originates. ‘I like working on my own. While it’s time consuming, I do the marketing and so on myself – so it’s free.’ She likes it this way. ‘I like being involved in every stage. It’s a control thing. It’s precious to me.’
Christina is a classically trained pianist and also trained as a botanical artist, in which she boasts 3 books to her name. She writes music, performs occasionally and has an acoustic album set for release at the end of the month. Yikes! I was fascinated to discover that Christina had met our future King, Prince Charles. ‘He was lovely!’ she remembers. ‘He was very encouraging. He was fascinated by my work’. The art, I presume, not the gloves!
Does Christina see herself as a sort of Gaga-esque fashion/music collaborator? Not really. ‘I like to keep things separate,’ she tells me. ‘It’s not a conscious thing, but my music and fashion tend not to mix.’
She began writing songs seriously about 4-5 years ago, and while she has an admiration for heavily-produced music, it’s a more acoustic sound that appeals to her. ‘There’s an art to writing songs that sound good heavily-produced, and there’s an art to writing songs that sound good acoustically,’ she informs me, ‘and I much prefer the latter’. She doesn’t get chance to listen to music that often, but when she does, she gets out to see it, rather than sticking on a CD. ‘I think to find out what’s going on [in music] you have to go and see it, you have to hear what people are playing’.
When she does listen to music, she adores Kate Bush (whom she’s happy to announce she’s compared to when she performs), Crowded House and Julian Cope, seventies rock band Heart and The Bangles, both of which she remembers listening to at the age of 14 ‘with a HUGE perm!’
With so much going on, I play devil’s advocate, and ask that if she could only explore one of her fields, what it would be. ‘It would be the gloves,’ she reveals quickly. ‘I am really passionate about this at the moment, so I guess it would be these. I feel like I’ve explored all I can with music, and the books!’ She enjoys the new challenges that creating the gloves bring. ‘I do keep one eye on fashion, but at the same time it’s important to keep things personal.’ She continues, ‘I’ve learned that things don’t move at the speed of light, so I’m enjoying this period of self-exploration.’
Christina also digs classical music, particularly the grandiosity of Beethoven, and the Godlike influence of Bach. ‘I don’t see myself as a religious person,’ she tells me, ‘but I like to think that God operates, through everything I do.’
Surely there’s time for some Christina-time? How does she relax? ‘I love to read – especially Dylan Thomas‘ poetry, and I have a new book by Oswald Spengler that I’m looking forward to.’ ‘I’m having some Crash Time this week actually’ she says, relieved. ‘I think you have to, or you burn out.’
Tags:
botany, Christina Brodie, comic art, fashion, Gloves, Graphic Patterns, Lady Gaga, leather, Leon Bankside, Prince Charles
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